Not the same missionary

There isn't enough time to write today, and even if there was, I don't think I would even know what to say. 

My chapter of Valencia has come to an end, and what a sweet chapter it was. I feel like it was in Valencia where, I learned how to be a missionary, learned how to be dedicated, to love the work, to love the people. And to make the most of every minute. 

My last week was filled with a couple of unforgettable moments. Eating and laughing with our Italian friends who made amazing pizza, teaching a family from Africa, who surprised us with pigs feet for dinner. It was the first (and last) time I had tried it. Saying goodbye to my converts and the members and all the people I love here, which was the equivalency to  having my heart ripped out.  They are all just so special to me, I'm not saying this to be cheesy but I honestly didn't even know I could love this much. Even thinking of them right now makes my heart throb a little. And then the bishop asked me to share my testimony for the last time, I got up there and started bawling basically. I didn't think it was going to be so hard to but it was. I felt like my time in Valencia flew. And as I've looked back on the time I've had, I feel so blessed and happy because I feel like although it was just yesterday I got there, that the missionary I was then, is no where near the missionary I have become and am today. I learned soooo much in my time in Valencia, and I guess that's why half my heart will always still be there.

I gathered up notes and journals and photos and pajamas friends and families too kindly gave to me, and wished I could have given them something more. Wished I could have stayed forever with them. But I guess I've learned that we never grow in our comfort zones, and Valencia has become my home. And the mission is all about growing, so therefore I must go.

I wish I could thoroughly express how much I have come to love these people, or the difficult learning moments I've had that have pushed me into something better, or the friendships I have made that will last forever, but I can't, so these black and white words will have to suffice for now. Just know that I have created memories that will never be forgotten, and friendships with these people that will last forever. 

And now. I leave my comfortable home of Valencia, to go for my new adventure. Opening and  training in Vilafranca 

Xoxox Hermana Cragun 

Sent from my iPad

I share the gospel and they teach me,how to apply it

Are there words for moments like this?

As we sat watching the Christ video the spirit filled the room, and for a moment I felt like I sat here watching the scene from someone else point of view. Rita, holding her two beautiful daughters, the sweet music filling the room and the spirit  testifying of the divinity  of Christ. And I couldn't help but cry, because I realized. I never wanted moments like this to end. Is this what people mean about they love the mission. I will never get moments like this at home. To enter into people's homes, to be an instrument for the Lord and to be able to teach them such eternal precious truths. 

Victor, our member, from Nigeria had said to Rita to listen to the them, they were ordained they were chosen before this life to teach. And  I couldn't help but be taken back at that moment. What had I done to deserve this? How did I get so lucky to be chosen to preach the gospel? Then the words words HE LIVES filled the screen and I couldn't but feel my heart just swell

He lives 

He lives

He lives 

I would scream it and fill everyone's ears with these words 

"And why he lives he sings" the most beautiful blessing. Our most precious promise  that we can be like him. That there's someone that knows exactly how we feel. That we can be forgiven start over again have our past erased and be come better everyday. And how beautiful  it is to be his representative. Truly. I would NEVER trade anything for moments like this. There is nothing sweeter or more featuring or fulfilling than moments like is.

And as the video ended, and we got up and wiped the tears from our eyes, Sophia ran and collected a small cheetah print bag and handed it to us to see, and inside lay two presents wrapped in thin hot pink paper written to "elder wiseman and elder cragun" we opened it up to find a bag, and gloves. They explained they didn't have money for it, but they the girls had insisted we have it. (Hermana wisemana bag is so old it's literally in shreds) my heart was so so so so so so full. They literally had nothing; yet they still thought of us. And the needs we had. I love them. I am so amazed of the charity and selfless they have.

I have found that I teach my investigators about the gospel, but they truly teach me how to apply it. And they show it in their diary lives, these people are so Christ like yet they don't even know it. I am the one learning from them and what a privilege it is. 

Still everyday I, so grateful to be here in Spain in such a beautiful country and culture with people from every nation. 

" ...this is my glory, that perhaps is I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance, and this is my joy." 

I love my mission and his work. 

Xoxox Hermana Cragun 

Humbled

Humbled

Truly humbled 

That's what the mission does to you, it humbles you. In so many ways. 

After two very quick miracle effortless weeks, Sarahy was baptized and it was AMAZING. As she spoke to give her testimony she was nervous, but it was  clear she was so touched by the spirit. Her eyes filled with tears and she became chocked up. She said "I know this church is true because of how I feel. Maybe I wasn't on the right path before but I found my way here, and I know it is here I have a family."

It's so hard explains just how amazing it is so see your investigators share their testimony for the first time, for the spirit they bring. Being able to watch them grow and be touched by the feelings of the Holy Ghost. Their faith and their testimonies are so pure, and so personal. I love it so much, there's just nothing more humbling or better. And as her mom turned around and grabbed my hand to say thank you. I couldn't feel more grateful to be a missionary, and to realize this just wasn't my work. I was just privileged to be an instrument and witness his work. I truly hadn't done anything but be there it felt like, and it was such a humbling experience. 

Our next miracle is a Nigerian family,

We met Rita on the street smd she invited us over. We knocked on the door and her
husband (who is Spanish) cheerfully let us right in. At the end of
other lesson Rita started talking to us and said, I do have to tell
you something; my husband NEVER lets missionaries in. Doesn't matter
what religion. And the last Mormons that came over he told to never
come back. But he let you in  even better was that THEY ALL came to
church!! Even the dad! Which is huge here! We're so excited for them

We also then had the (fake) funeral of our beloved hermana 

Hermana fennsickle has been a close friend to me through out all my mission, she's also the hardest working Hermana I know. She's been suffering with all sorts of medical issues but she fought-and is still fighting- to stay on the mission. But  because of her condition she has to move closer to Barc, so that she could be closer to medical attention. We gathered at the end of a long day in the living room, lit candles and Hermana plant hung the mural she made of her companion. We each took turns reading our talks, mine was "from heaven to Becky fennsicke"

I'm going to miss her so much! 

Which also brings us to the next news- IM IN A TRIO! Wheeeewww! The good news is Hermana Plant is our new addition and I love her so basically we are on cloud 9. So it's all great :)

All in all I feel so blessed and so happy to be here on the mission. I love the ability to be an instrument for the lord and to witness his work. Truly his ways our higher than our ways, and being able to labor in his vineyard is the most humbling and satisfying decision of my life.

Love you all and love this time of my life xoxox Hermana Cragun 

New week, new comp and new beginings

A bit windy apparently

Valencia

New week, new transfer, new companion, new beginning, new miracles. 

A new month has a arrived and and so marks the new beginning of a new transfer. It is crazy how fast time goes here on the mission. Was it really just last year I was opening my call? And now I'm actually here in Spain again, walking the same streets and speaking the same language but now with purpose and diligence?

BUT I HAVE A NEW COMPANION. La Hermana Wiseman. She's from the sunny land of California and is as loving as a penguin in her own words. Haha no I love her though, she's an amazing, amazing missionary and so sweet and basically she is the only missionary I've ever met who has stayed in perfect shape and still wears her Kate spade watch and Tiffany co bracelet as we walk through the broken down complexes of gypsies. Haha she's awesome. 

Well the lord DOWN-POURED us with miracles this week. I still can't believe it. Last Monday I was out contacting and sat down to search for an address when a woman casually contacted ME and asked where our church was. So of course I scribbled down the address and flooded her with questions about knowing missionaries and  where she was from. She explained she was a member who just moved here from Chile and then said her daughter, who was 16, was taking las Charlas back in her country and wasn't ready to get baptized. But she wanted us to come by and meet her because she felt like she was ready now. So we met with her Saturday and at the end of the lesson she said "well... I don't know how this all works but it's five Charlas right? And then she gets baptized? Oh. And I like feed you guys once a week or so right?" Hahaha I was laughing so hard but we were so excited!! Such a cool miracle. They all came to church Sunday and were working with them again tonight to have her ready for baptism.

The next miracle for the week is named none other than... Madelin :) I commended her for having such an amazing name. Hermana Wiseman and I were contacting in the streets when we stopped her and talked to her, she said she was off to work but could meet on Sunday. So we invited her to church and she CAME. I think it's so hard to explain just how amazing it is when people come to church. You just like shake their hand, find them a friend to sit with and then happy dance when they turn around. And not only that but she just gets it. As we taught her about the Book of Mormon she was literally finishing our sentences, she is so prepared such a great miracle :)

Well time is running short and so I must be off soon, but I hope you get the chance to view my video of teaching in the park and the African man. He is there everyday. Just though I'd give you all a taste of Valencia. 

I'm so grateful for my mission, I love the work, I love, love, love the work and the people and this beautiful country and all that this mission has done for me. I thought I had a testimony before but now I know without a doubt just how true this church is. Joseph Smith truly was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is real scripture, it has all the answers we need and the power to change lives. I am so grateful for  my mission. I have really come to know in my heart the things I knew before in my head. This truly is Christ's church, and it is such a privilege to be his representative in this country. 

Love you all!! Xoxoxo Hermana Cragun 

What a week

what a week.

TRANSFER TUESDAY! gotta love it when this day comes around. Always a surprise and a such a nerve racking event, sitting around the table, phones perfecly placed infront of you waiting for that special phone call to come from your district leader. But good news! I'M STAYING! And I'm so excited about it as well. I love this land of Valencia and the people in it.

I dont have much time (sorry!) so this email wont be able to be too detailed. But it truly was such an amazing week. My companion ended her missoin this week, so we spent the week visiting members, saying goodybe to investigators. Making plans for her to return to the mission home today. As I waved goodbye to her monday morning and watched her board the train it made me stop to think about all I had learned from her. And she had learned during her mission. 

Im grateful for the time we have here during our missions, its like a small little life here where we are able to be pushed to our limits and overcome our challenges to become the people we need to become. Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for us here, where he teaches us exactly what we need to learn from others, whether it be from members, investigators, menos activos, or especially from our comps. The key I have learned, is having the patience and humility to let him mold you, and having the trust in him and in our savior that they really will make you into the person you need to be, even if at times it wasnt the person you had in mind you wanted to become.

Miracle of the week was the baptism of ERIKA!!!!! Erika had been meeting for the missionaries on and off for the past year. We, meaning my companion and I, had personally been meeting with her for the past three months. It was a long process, but little by little we watched as she grew, and saw how the spirit and the power of the book of mormom truly did strengthen her testimony and help her be truly converted. She was baptized Saturday and there were so many people that came to support her. The spirit was so strong, and she just radiated happiness. Honestly one of the best moments of my life. Even better is that she has the goal to be sealed to her fiance in the temple in a year. Im so excited for her and know that she will only be an amazing member. An you can bet I will come back in a year for her temple sealing ;)

well I must go! But let me end by giving a shoutout to my best friend Em for getting called to the greatest mission on the Earth. It truly is amazing how much the Lord is in the details of our lives. Over and over again he teaches me that. with studying here to being called her, with being in the right moment at the right time to meet the right person, to meeting my father´s bishop here in the small dedicatory service, to having a student from spain come live with us, to her becoming my "spanish sister" I love her so much, and then to be called to her area. now my best friend-who i met in Spanish class no less- being called to my same mission. Truly the Lord is aware of us and has such great things in store for each and everyone of us. We truly were created to be happy, and he has a perfect plan to help us accomplish that. Trust in him, and we will be. I know that.

Love you all! Headed out to work now! 

xoxox

hermana cragun

Look at her last name!

Maddie with Elder Obando and his wife in Spain

Bishop Obando with his wife in the 90's making breakfast

Look at her last name"

Well this week was a crazy week so prepare for a long email. Sorry everyone.

The week began with Juanita , our cute little investigator turning 24! So we surprised her with a birthday treat and decorated her door. I had bought candles ready to sing when I realized that I didn't have any matches! But then I remembered that I live in Spain and everyone smokes so we knocked on the door of her neighbor and asked for a lighter, which they had, lit the cake cake and sang snd surprised her. We got invited to her birthday that night which we attended, and that night Juanita got ENGAGED!!! So happy for her. It was cool because the next day as we talked about her wedding and now it would be and she invited us out to her sealing one year in advance :)) 

Juanita will be baptized this week! 

Sunday we taught Jordan who is aaaamazing. He hasn't been able to meet as much because as work but he is still doing so well. As we taught him about  temples and showed him pictures he stopped us and said "wait, this reminds me of a dream" he then explained a dream he had two nights before, where he walked into a beautiful big room with stairs curving as they went upwards. The stairs were white, everything was nice he said. At the bottom stood a man who said "preperarte" and then the dream ended and he woke up. "What does it mean?" He asked us. We smiled "it means that baptism is not the end Jordi. Just like you are preparing for baptism right now, you must prepare yourself to enter the temple as well." He promised us he would.

Saturday marked a historic day for Valencia. All the wards and missionaries gathered together on Saturday afternoon as Valencia held a dedicatory for the new church that is going to be built here, making 2 different buildings and 3 soon to be 4 (hopefully) new wards. Members who have lived here since the beginning of the building of the first church in Valencia were able to get up and talk and share their testimonies. It was so cool to be able to hear their experiences and testimonies as they have seen the church grow here.

The service ended with a member of the seventy- elder Obando- sharing his thoughts and testimony.

As the service ended my companion and I made our rounds saying goodbye to missionaries and members before heading out when all of a sudden I found myself in the path of the member of the seventy. I went to shake his hand and thank him for his words when he stopped me. "Hermana Cragun" he smiled. I nodded my head, his pronunciation of my name was surprisingly good, which doesn't happen too often here. "I have a question for you." "Yes?" I asked. "Where did your father serve?" His question took me back. "Costa Rica" his smile grew wide. "In the 90?s" he asked. "Yes!" I said my excitement growing. "Do you know my father?!" He smiled, "I do." "How?!" I asked. "I was his bishop in Costa Rica for a while." He then called to a woman who was taking to a group of members from the churn and said to her smiling gesturing at me, "look at her last name." The woman looked at him, then at me, then at my chapa and then back at him "no puede ser." (It can't be) "ask her where her father served" he said laughing at her astonishment. She immediately rushed over and I confirmed to her that I was indeed the daughter of Jason Cragun, she had many questions about where dad was these days how many people were in my family. Everything. Then she shared something that really changed things for me. "We have seen many many missionaries pass through our ward, but it's has been over 20 years and we have never forgotten about your father. You don't see a lot of missionaries like him. We have been trying so hard to find him but we never could. This week especially he has been on our mind so much, but we could still never find him." As her gaze dropped to me, I heard the words in my head "and now you have found his daughter." 20 years later, more than 5000 miles from Costa Rica the lord had led a former bishop and as his wife to the small dedicatory service in Valencia, where a former missionaries daughter stay working as the full time missionary now. I left that day with his words ringing in my ears "look at her last name" 

Something clicked in that moment. I realized, I represent something out here on my mission. Both my parents chose to serve missions, and they left a name for me. They left an impression, and it was my choice what I would do with my name. 20 years later his bishop- now member of the 70- still remembered my father for all he did. What would others remember about me 20 years later? The Cragun name to me means missionary work. My parents served missions, i am serving, my siblings will all serve, and someday my children will serve. But I realized there's another name I hold on my chapa. Christs name. I don't need to be a full time missionary to hold his name, that's some thing I've taken, we have all taken, upon us since baptism. What does it mean to hold his name upon us? What are doing with his name? 

Hermana Cragun

Who would have ever known?

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” - Paul. The coolest person in the bible 

"Though it is often difficult to endure, truly we ought to rejoice that God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct." - Todd d. Christofferson 

2 days ago marks the year mark of the first time I ever stepped into Spain. Who would have ever known that two weeks after being in Spain, I would receive my mission call to come and serve here? Who would have known all those Spanish classes, trips to Mexico, friends and feelings encouraging me to study in Spain, were all part of Gods amazing plan to prepare me for where I am today? Sometimes it still bewilders  me how much God loves us to be so enthralled in the details of our lives.

This email will me short and simple. These past two weeks have been a reminder of "whom the lord loves he chastenth". But don't think I have let that get me down. I'm learning that when we rely on the Savior any trial can be overcome, that we are often refined over and over in the furnace of affliction so we can become who God wants us to become.  

Despite the hardships, this week has been full of miracles. 

Erika, our investigator who had been studying the church for a year has agreed to be baptized. We taught repentance and I bore my testimony of the spirit, I knew, she knew what she had felt. It was one of he most powerful moments of my mission because as I closed my mouth I realized how strongly the spirit had worked through me. Erika looked at us and said after that "I'm ready." Later that week President came to visit and as he talked, he took me by the hand and said something that reminded me of  a line from my blessing. "Share your testimony, for you will help many know the Lord." 

Jordi is still progressing amazingly. He prayed over the Book of Mormon and said that he felt a warmth and peace. He knows it's true.

The spirit led us to a family of five who is now investigating the church, as well as a woman from Africa who has been "searching for the truth because none of the other churches fill her." 

From the small daily miracles on the street, to the moments where God refines you or intervenes in your life to prepare you for what is ahead, I am constantly reminded that he is in the detail of lives, and he is in charge. And when we let him, and when we put our trust in him, he will make more of us than when we could ever make of ourselves. 

Hermana Cragun